CUNY Board Fails to Approve Bid to Allow Remedial Cuts

The heightened political sensitivity surrounding the status of remedial classes at the City University of New York was evident yesterday as the board narrowly failed to pass a resolution that would have allowed individual colleges to abolish remedial classes.

The measure was aimed at permitting Baruch College to cut out all remedial classes this fall, as it has planned to do for more than a year, before the board began to consider a plan banning remediation at its four-year colleges. But the issue has become so heated that several trustees expressed wariness about taking any action before the broader issues were settled.

James P. Murphy, one of the trustees who has previously said he was willing to support some reduction in remedial work, opposed the measure yesterday. ''I'm not sure I want to cross the Rubicon, if this is a Rubicon,'' he said.

On Friday, the board had postponed a previously scheduled vote on a comprehensive plan for cutting remediation at all 17 of its undergraduate colleges, following a week of sharp criticism from students, teachers and government officials.

Opposition to cuts in remediation -- which some say will effectively shut down open admissions at CUNY -- seemed to be spreading. A loud demonstration of about 150 protesters marched outside of CUNY's headquarters on East 80th Street yesterday, and drew not only students and faculty members but also a sprinkling of people from other universities, including New York University and the University of California at Berkeley, and from other organizations.

''We see the future of New York City as very much tied up with the future of public education,'' said Leslie Cagan, a member of the Same Boat Coalition, an advocacy group. ''We're concerned that CUNY remediation be open to all New Yorkers. Open admissions and remediation are things we should be proud of.''

The demonstrators also seemed to be broadening the targets of their protest beyond the trustees to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose attacks on the university have been a catalyst in the board's rush to reduce remedial work. One placard declared the Mayor ''the Butcher of CUNY,'' and protestors chanted ''Giuliani's got to go.''

Although several trustees expressed support for the principle of letting colleges determine their own destiny, the resolution they were considering yesterday fell one vote short of the nine needed for passage. Four trustees voted against it and two others abstained. Two trustees on the 17-member board were not at the meeting, and the faculty representative does not have a vote. One trustee suggested that the resolution might win passage at a future meeting when more trustees are present.

But several trustees -- and Baruch's president, Matthew Goldstein -- said that they believed that CUNY colleges already have the authority to remove remedial courses from their catalogues if they wish. CUNY's officials had sought a vote to remove any possible ambiguity.